This invention relates generally to yard or lawn machines. More particularly, this invention relates to a combination lawn care mobile machine which can sweep, vacuum, thatch and shred.
Typical lawn brooms include a rotary drum having a plurality of rows of bristles secured thereto which sweep the surface to be cleaned upon rotation. In addition to lawn sweepers for sweeping up leaves and other debris, many other yard machines have been developed over the years, such as, mowers, vacuums, blowers, shredders, chippers and trimmers.
It is a principal object of the present invention to provide a lawn sweeper which is more efficient than those of the prior art and which also has incorporated into the machine additional features for vacuuming, shredding, chipping, and thatching.
The mobile sweeper apparatus of the present invention is comprised of a wheel supported housing to be moved over an underlying surface to be swept of debris, and which housing is also provided with a bottom opening. A rotary brush mechanism is mounted in the housing and projects through the bottom opening of the housing for sweeping up debris from an underlying surface and a drive mechanism is connected for rotatably driving the brush mechanism. In addition, a vacuum fan with shredder impellers is mounted in the housing and communicates through a vacuum chute with the bottom opening of the housing for drawing in, shredding or chipping and discharging debris swept up by the brush mechanism.
A damper valve dam or plate is disposed in this vacuum chute between the brush mechanism and the shredder fan and is operable for closing off the vacuum chute. Also, a normally close vacuum port is positioned on the vacuum chute between the damper valve plate and the shredder fan for connecting a vacuum conduit to this port for vacuum communication with the fan for thereby converting the mobile apparatus to a vacuum device. This vacuum conduit may be in the form of a vacuum hose for vacuuming up leaves or other debris, or the vacuum conduit may be in the form of a funnel chute for inserting debris to be shred or chipped by the shredder fan.
The brush mechanism is preferably provided in the form of a pair of substantially parallel elongated rotary brushes mounted in the housing for rotation about their axis which extend in the direction of their elongation, and which is transverse to the direction of normal forward movement of the housing. These brushes project through the bottom opening of the housing for sweeping the underlying surface and the brushes are driven in counter rotation whereby the debris being swept is swept upwardly between the brushes to provide a more efficient sweeping action. The rotary brushes may have radially extending bristles which may intermesh with bristles of the adjacent parallel rotary brush for even more efficient sweeping action. In yet another form the intermeshing bristles of the elongated brushes may be comprised of elongate bristle paddle type sweeper blades.
The mobile sweeper apparatus of the present invention may be self propelled or may include attachment mechanism for attaching the housing of the apparatus to a motorized vehicle, such as a lawn tractor, for moving the housing. This drive mechanism further includes a powered takeoff to drive the brush mechanism and shredder fan. The power takeoff may be from a lawn tractor in the form of a belt drive with a spring loaded belt tension pulley for easy connection of the apparatus to the take-off drive of the motorized vehicle.
The rotary brushes of the mobile sweeper apparatus of the present invention can be readily exchanged in whole or in part with radially extending wire tines for thatching a lawn. In addition, the height of the housing for the apparatus may be adjusted above the underlying surface to be swept or thatched to the appropriate height as required for the conditions.